UCI professor to discuss cancer and aging correlation

Why does cancer occur more often as people get older?

Humans start off as one cell and eventually are made up of about 10 trillion. Year after year, cells die and are replaced.

In this continuous cycle, errors break down the reliability of the new cells and tissue, so says UCI’s Steven Frank.

On Tuesday, Frank, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, will discuss “Cancer and aging: How our bodies are designed to be reliable and why they fail.”

Frank will explain why certain cancers occur mostly in children, why some inherited mutations move cancer onset to earlier ages and why quitting smoking changes the chances of getting cancer.

The talk is sponsored by the UCI School of Biological Sciences and will be from 7 to 8 p.m. in the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering building.

The presentation is free and open to the public but reservations are required.

For reservations call (949) 824-2500.

— Joseph Serna